Syntactic annotation – noun phrases

Extended labels

Argument noun phrases must have one of the following extended labels:

• -SBJ: subject
• -OB1: direct or only object
• -OB2: indirect or second object
• -PRD: subject complement with certain verbs (e.g. wēsen, wērden, blīven, hēten); also for ADJPs
• -SMC: object complements with certain verbs (e.g. maken, nomen); also for ADJPs

Non-argument noun phrases can have one of the following extended labels:

• -ADT: adjunct (also for ADJPs)
• -LOC: locative
• -TMP: temporal
• -VOC: vocative
• -POS: possessor
• -COM: bare noun phrase complement of noun or adjective

 

Nominal compounds

• In noun-noun compounds, both components are tagged as nouns (NA) and are treated as sisters of each other:

(NP-SBJ (N somer)
        (N tyme)
)

Proper nouns

Proper nouns are tagged as NE:

(NP (NE Gwido)         ← personal name
    (PP (APPR von)
        (NP (DDARTA den)
            (NA sulen)))
)

(NP-PRN (DDARTA de)
        (NA hertoge)
        (PP (APPR von)
            (NP (NE bruneswich))) ← place name
)   

Note that titles are tagged as ordinary nouns (NA) or adjectives (ADJ*), and are treated as sisters to the proper noun:

(NP-SBJ (NA Mester)
        (NE tulius)
)

(NP-SBJ (ADJA Sinte)
        (NE Lucas)
)

Adjectival nouns

There is no special treatment for adjectival nouns; they are just treated as ordinary standalone adjectives (ADJS):

(NP-SBJ (DDARTA de)
        (ADJS besten)
)

(NP-OB1 (DDARTA dat)
        (ADJS beste)
)

Reflexive pronouns

Forms of the reflexive pronoun sik are tagged as PRF:

(IP-MAT (NP-SBJ (PPER He))
        (VVFIN maket)
        (NP-OB1 (PRF sick))
        (ADJP-PRD (ADJD runt)
                  (PP (KOKOM also)
                      (NP (DIARTA een)
                          (NA kloet))))
)

Nominal predicates

Nominal predicates take one of two labels:

• NP-PRD
• NP-SMC

NP-PRD

Use of NP-PRD broadly follows the YCOE guidelines: see here

NP-PRD is restricted to subject complements of the following verbs:

• wēsen `be’
• wērden `become’
• blīven `become’
• hēten `be called’
• dunken `seem’
• sprēken `means, equates to’
• kosten `cost’
• wegen `weigh’

(IP-MAT-SPE (NP-SBJ (PPER Du))
            (VVFIN bist)                    ← BE
            (NP-PRD (DIARTA eyn)            ← subject complement
                    (NA mester)
                    (PP (APPR to)
                        (NP (NE israhel))))
) 

(IP-MAT ....
        (ADVP (AVKO so))
        (VVFIN wert)                     ← BECOME
        (NP-SBJ (NP-POS (NE Janikels)) 
                (NA dochtersone))
        (NP-PRD (DPOSA vnse)             ← subject complement
                (NA here))
)

(IP-MAT (NP-SBJ (DPOSA sin)
                (NA sone))
        (VVFIN bleff)                   ← BECOME
        (NP-PRD (DIARTA eyn)            ← subject complement
                (NA arue)
                (NP-POS (DDARTA des)
                        (NA landes)))
)

(IP-MAT (KON Vnde)
        (NP-SBJ (PPER et))
        (VMFIN mach)
        (ADVP (AVD wal))  
        (VVINF heten)                   ← BE CALLED
        (NP-PRD (NA spieghel)           ← subject complement
                (NP-POS (DDARTA der)
                        (NA leyen)))
)

(IP-MAT (KON vnd)
        (NP-SBJ *con*)
        (VVFIN heyt)
        (NP-OB1 (PPER ot))
        (NP-SMC (NE Spartagus))
)

(IP-MAT (NP-SBJ (DPDS dat))
        (VVFIN sprekt)            ← MEAN
        (NP-PRD (NA hundeken))    ← subject complement
)

(IP-MAT (NP-SBJ (PPER Ot))
        (VMFIN moste)
        (VVINF kosten)           ← COST
        (NP-PRD (CARDA hundert)  ← subject complement
                (NA mark))
)

(CP-ADV (KOUS dat)
        (IP-SUB (NP-SBJ (DDARTA de)
                (NA tunne))
                (VMFIN schall)
                (VVINF weghen) ← WEIGH
                (NP-PRD (CARDA verteyn) ← subject complement
                (NA lispunt)))
)

N.B. This also applies to these verbs in the passive:

(IP-SUB (NP-SBJ (PPER ick))
        (NP-PRD (NP-POS (DDA alsodanen))    ← subject complement
                        (NA mans)
                (ADJA eghentlike)
                (NA brud))
        (VAFIN sy)
        (VVPP ghewesen)     ← BE (passive)
)

(IP-MAT (KON vnde)
        (NP-SBJ (DDARTA dat)
                (NA wort))
        (VAFIN is)
        (NP-PRD (NA ulesch))     ← subject complement
        (VVPP gheworden)         ← BECOME (passive)
)

(CONJP (KON vnde) 
       (IP-SUB (NP-SBJ *T*-1)
               (VVFIN is)
               (PP (ADVP (PAVD dar))
                   (PAVAP vmme))
               (VVPP gheheten)               ← BE CALLED (passive)
               (NP-PRD (DIARTA een)          ← subject complement
                       (NA spieghel)
                       (NP-POS (DDARTA der)
                               (NA leyen))))
) 

NP-SMC

NP-SMC is used for small clause nominals construed with the object. We have generally replaced the IP-SMC category from the PPCHE. This is done to cut down on the number of long-distance dependencies generated by syntactic transformations like passivization, and also the freer word order of MLG.

Instead, we use the alternate annotation scheme described here. The first point is that, generally, small clause complements are not treated as a constituent. Their treatment is assimilated to that of predicate nominals.

NP-SMC is used for object complements of the following verbs:

maken `make’

(IP-MAT (ADVP (AVKO so))
        (VVFIN makest)          ← MAKE
        (NP-SBJ (PPER du))
        (NP-OB1 (PPER dy)
                (PTKN suluen))
        (NP-SMC (NA gud))       ← object complement
)

nomen `name’

(PP (APPR Jn)
    (NP (DIARTA enen)
        (NA boeke)
        (CP-REL (WNP-1 (DPRELS dat))
                (IP-SUB (NP-OB1 *T*-1)
                        (NP-SBJ (DPIS men))
                        (VVFIN noemet)             ← NAME
                        (NP-SMC pastorael))))      ← object complement
)

(IP-MAT (PP (APPR Von)
            (NP (DDA dussen)
                (NE heber)))
        (VVFIN nomet)            ← NAME
        (NP-OB1 (PRF sek))
        (NP-SBJ (DDARTA de)
                (NA joden))
        (NP-SMC (NE Hebreos))    ← object complement
)

hēten `call’

(IP-MAT (ADVP (AVD Jocto))
        (PTKNEG ne)
        (VVFIN hete)             ← CALL
        (NP-SBJ (PPER ik))
        (NP-OB1 (PPER iv))
        (PTKNEG nicht)
        (NP-SMC (NA knechte))    ← object complement
)

wēgen `weigh up as’

TODO: example

 

Measure phrases (NP-MSR)

NP-MSR is used for measure phrase modifiers of a noun or adjective:

(ADJP-PRD (NP-MSR (XY cxxx)
                  (NA iar))
          (ADJD olt)
)

(ADVP (NP-MSR (DIARTA eyn)
              (NA veerndel)
              (NP-POS (NA Jares)))
      (AVD tovoren)
)

 

Complement NPs of nouns and adjectives (NP-COM)

Where a noun or an adjective takes a bare noun phrase complement, the complement is treated as NP-COM:

(ADJP-SMC (ADJA uol)
          (NP-COM (NA (NA gnade)
                      (KON vnde)
                      (NA warheit)))
)

 

Possessors (NP-POS)

Possessor NPs are labelled NP-POS and treated as complements of N:

(NP-OB1 (DDARTA den)
        (NA namen)
        (NP-POS (NA godes)) ← possessor NP
)

Note that possessive pronouns are treated as modifiers and do not project a phrase:

(PP (APPR in)
    (NP (DPOSA iuwen) ← possessive pronoun
        (NA munt))
)

 

Genitive noun phrases at clause-level

Four types of genitive can occur at the clause level:

• Predicative genitives (NP-PRD (NP-POS X))
• Clausal adjuncts (NP-ADT)
• Temporal adverbials (NP-TMP)
• Genitive objects of certain verbs (NP-OB1)

Note that there are no (unmoved) NP-POS daughters of an IP. In some cases, a genitive may raise out of an NP; in this case it can appear as the daughter of an IP, but is always coindexed with an *ICH* trace indicating its base position.

Predicative genitives (NP-PRD (NP-POS X))

Predicative genitives are tagged as NP-POS inside NP-PRD:

    ( (IP-MAT (KON vnde)
              (CP-FRL-1 (WNP-2 (DPWS wat))
                        (IP-SUB (NP-OB1 *T*-2)
                                (NP-SBJ (DDARTA dey)
                                        (NA Rayt))
                                (NP-ADT (DDARTA des)) 
                                (VVFIN nymet)))
              (!!ED!! $.$)
              (NP-POS-3 (CP-FRL *ICH*-1)              
                                                          
                        (DPRELS des))
              (VVFIN is)
              (NP-PRD (NP-POS (DDARTA des)       ← predicative genitive
                              (NA richteres)))
              (NP-SBJ (NP-POS *ICH*-3)
                      (DDARTA dey)
                      (ADJA derde)
                      (NA deyl))
              ($; .)
              (!!ED!! $.$)))
"And whatever the council takes [<sub>1</sub> because of this matter ], one third [<sub>2</sub> of it ] is [<sub>3</sub> the judge's ]"

Clausal adjuncts (NP-ADT)

Clausal adjuncts (usually similar in meaning to an English prepositional phrase such as “about…”) are annotated as NP-ADT:

    ( (IP-MAT (KON vnde)
              (CP-FRL-1 (WNP-2 (DPWS wat))
                        (IP-SUB (NP-OB1 *T*-2)
                                (NP-SBJ (DDARTA dey)
                                        (NA Rayt))
                                (NP-ADT (DDARTA des)) ← NP-ADT
                                (VVFIN nymet)))
              (!!ED!! $.$)
              (NP-POS-3 (CP-FRL *ICH*-1)           
                                                         
                        (DPRELS des))
              (VVFIN is)
              (NP-PRD (NP-POS (DDARTA des)           
                              (NA richteres)))
              (NP-SBJ (NP-POS *ICH*-3)
                      (DDARTA dey)
                      (ADJA derde)
                      (NA deyl))
              ($; .)
              (!!ED!! $.$)))
"And whatever the council takes [<sub>1</sub> because of this matter ], one third [<sub>2</sub> of it ] is [<sub>3</sub> the judge's ]"

Temporal adverbials (NP-TMP)

Genitive NPs which function as temporal adverbials at clause-level are treated as NP-TMP:

TODO: example here

Genitive objects of certain verbs (NP-OB1)

Certain verbs in MLG take a genitive argument as their object. This is particularly common when a verb is negated or has an inherent negative meaning. Verbs which can take a genitive object include:

• bekennen, e.g. …dat se des bekende myt ghuden willen (Stralsund)
• beropet, e.g. Swelich man sich sines tvges beropet umber gelt. (Braunschweig)
• bidden, e.g. Biddet he enis echten dinghis… (Duderstadt1)
• danken, e.g. und *con* dankende ome sins spels (Engelhus)
• don, e.g. Swaz de rat tot mit dher stat willen… (Duderstadt1)
• entberen, e.g. he wolde leuer der kindere enbern (Engelhus)
• entgan, e.g. …se mogen is bat entgan mit ires eneshant (Braunschweig)
• gelden, e.g. Swaz so en man eneme gaste ghelden sal… (Duderstadt1)
• hebben, e.g. …ne mach he sines waren nicht hebben (Braunschweig)
• hȍden, e.g. vnd *con* hodde der skap (Engelhus)
• lösen, e.g. Losede vy es oc nicht binnen tuen jaren… (Stralsund)
• los werden, e.g. dat sine borgere des loftes nummer los worden (Engelhus)
• loven, e.g. Swaz man vor dren ratmannen louit… (Duderstadt1)
• melden, e.g. en iunchurowe eder en vrouwe de hemelich iuwes kapitteles melde eynem vromeden personen (Stralsund)
• plegen, e.g. Swelich borghere nenis rechtis wil pleghen… (Duderstadt1)
• vorkopen, e.g. Swaz en man vorloft beneden eneme scillinghe… (Duderstadt1)
• underwinden, e.g. Neman ne mach sich nener inning oder Werkes vnderwinden (Duderstadt1)
• vorgeten, e.g. dar vmme forgot se sir (Engelhus)
• vormögen, e.g. Were ok sake dat wy des nicht en vormochten… (Bremen)
• vorsaken, e.g. Swelich man deme anderen sculdich is und es ime vorsaket… (Duderstadt1)
• vorwinnen, e.g. Wert he is verwunnen met den screimannen na rechte… (Braunschweig)
• warden, e.g. vnde darselves scolen se des warden mit voller macht (Stralsund)
• weigeren, e.g. do Joachim des tins weygerde (Engelhus)
• wunschen, e.g. dat alle lude sins does wunscheden ane eyn olt vrowe (Engelhus)